The Acolyte is set to expand the Star Wars lore to an even greater degree, as the premiere date inches closer. The hype around the show has reached a fever pitch since the story deviates from the Skywalker saga. While it is one of the many shows on Disney’s roster for this year, Leslye Headland’s show promises to be very different.
Nearly five decades after George Lucas released Star Wars: A New Hope, the love for the series is still as strong as ever. Moreover, Headland promises that her new show will pay homage to every show and movie that has come before it.
Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte will pay an ode to George Lucas’ Star Wars
George Lucas created something very special with the original trilogy that doubles as a space western. It is even more incredible given how the fans’ love for the films has endured despite the years. The popularity of the characters and their impact on pop culture have not waned at all. If anything, Disney has done well to expand Lucas’ rich universe and keep the love alive.
Leslye Headland is set to take it up to an even greater degree with her latest project, The Acolyte. The show is set a hundred years before the events of the Phantom Menace, delving into a time period that has not been explored much on screen before.
Headland has been steadily feeding information about what sets the show apart from the other projects. In a new interview with Total Film, which will come out on April 25th, the showrunner compared the show to a Russian doll. Moreover, she added that the show will honor not only the universe but also Lucas himself.
“The Acolyte is a mystery. It’s similar to Russian Doll, which was really about giving the audience information episode by episode, this spiral of storytelling. It’s a show packed with everything I wanted to explore: I wanted EU [Expanded Universe] stuff in there, references to the original trilogy, The Phantom Menace, the Disney sequels… it’s absolutely packed. Because you never know, you may not get the chance again. Chris [Teague] and I talked a lot about honoring George Lucas’ camera moves. I would say the original trilogy became our touchpoint for how to craft the world, while the Episode I-ness of the show is a bit more thematic” she said (via Games Radar+).
While the show promises to deliver the goods, it has also received a lot of backlash. Regardless, there is much to look forward to.
What do we know about The Acolyte so far?
Headland’s show is set in a galaxy far away, taking place towards the end of the High Republic era. This time period has not been explored much, so naturally, it has piqued the interest of the fans.
The trailer hinted at the Jedi investigating a series of crimes, while a new evil is on the rise. Moreover, a former padawan has become a bit of a thorn in the Jedi’s side since she left the order and decided to forge her own path.
The show stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae, Carrie Ann-Moss, and Manny Jacinto, among others, in key roles. Headland is the showrunner, and she even directed the first two episodes of the series.
The show is set to premiere on June 4th, four months after the finale of Ahsoka. It will be a two-episode premiere, after which each new episode will be released on a weekly basis on Disney+.
